


Sit & Stay

by Admiralish



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Desperation, Humiliation, M/M, No Smut, Omorashi, Punishment, Time Out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-16 07:07:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29696871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Admiralish/pseuds/Admiralish
Summary: Roy was wondering if the boy had ever been put in a timeout before.
Relationships: Edward Elric/Roy Mustang
Comments: 4
Kudos: 52





	Sit & Stay

**Author's Note:**

  * For [inconsequentialvrb](https://archiveofourown.org/users/inconsequentialvrb/gifts).



> Exactly what it says on the tin.

“How much longer?”

Roy lifted his head from his work, fixing his eyes on the boy at the far end of his office. Their newest recruit had already proved himself a temperamental little thing, high-pitched voice squeaking out the three or four curse words he knew with alarming regularity, and Roy felt himself grasping at straws for what to do with the kid. Merely passing a written exam and attempting a public assassination were hardly proof of maturity and Major Fullmetal had proved that in spades.

“Were you given permission to speak, Major FullMetal?”

The boy huffed, stomping a boot against the tiled floor. He was taking his punishment indignantly, arms crossed over his chest and grumbling to himself. Roy was wondering if the boy had ever been put in a timeout before.

“I was asking a question!” Ed barked, his tone sharp even as he stayed where he had been placed against the wall. Perhaps he was familiar with this method of discipline after all. Roy had half-expected him to decide for himself when he’d had enough of standing and staring into the off-white plaster. At least he was being somewhat still.

“You know, I really thought that children out in the East Area would be familiar with the concept of being seen and not heard,” Roy mused idly, nursing coffee from the mug at his side. He was hoping to at least be given enough silence to get through one cup in peace, but apparently, peace was not an option this morning. “But it seems you’ve proved me wrong.”

“I’m not just some kid!” Ed defended towards the wall.

“I want you to know that every word out of your mouth is adding to your time,” Roy felt his headache receding with every sip. He was gonna have to change this kid’s timesheet to not allow him anywhere near this goddamn office until after nine, this was far exceeding his recommended stress levels. “So you can keep arguing with me if you want, but you’ll be in that corner until they send us both home.”

He watched the boy slump against the wall, forehead pressed into the corner in obvious agony. Roy had learned quickly that this child had the exact opposite of a poker face. It was honestly impressive to watch how he managed to express himself with every single inch of his body. It was never enough just to frown, he had to practically throw himself to the floor in wailing misery every time someone told him to do something he didn’t want to do.

“Stand up straight,” Roy reminded simply. “Or I’m coming over there and straightening you out myself.”

The threat was almost experimental in nature. He wanted to know exactly what words got this boy to behave and which ones were going to earn them both a one-way ticket to Tantrum Town.

Ed was grumbling something Roy didn’t catch, but he did put a little effort into following orders.  _ Alright. So that one worked. _ That was good, because Roy really didn’t have a plan for what “coming over there” would’ve entailed if it hadn’t.

Maybe he  _ did  _ have a knack for handling children.

Feeling surprisingly satisfied with his newfound gift for parenting, Roy returned to his work. He was grateful Ed couldn’t see the smirk on his cheeks, he couldn’t imagine the rage that tiny body could summon if he knew he was being mocked behind his back. Roy had seen this kid flip his lid enough already, he really didn’t need a repeat this early in the morning.

“Can… Can’t I just take a break?” Ed’s small voice sounded annoyed, but more importantly, he sounded stretched thin. Like this was hurting him somehow. “I’ll come right back, I promise.”

Children were so _ dramatic. _

“Can I ask what you think would be the point of a punishment that was crafted with comfort in mind?”

Ed’s arms unfolded, hands dropping to his sides in tight fists, his tone a bit more agreeable if no less whiny. “You can punish me more when I get back!”

“What’s the rush?” Roy asked, suddenly curious. “You got a hot date?”

Ed responded in a tight, closed-mouth whine that rose into nasally bargaining.

“I’ll come right back! I won’t dawdle! A-and I won’t talk to nobody!”

Roy had already made several mental notes to buy this boy a primer on proper sentence structure, but hopefully this was going to be the last reminder he needed to actually get around to ordering one.

“Didn’t I say that the more you fight me, the longer you’ll stay there? If you’re looking to leave, I would recommend taking this one like a man.”

“Yeah, but...” Ed let his words trail off. “ _ Please? _ ”

That gave him pause for thought. Please? FullMetal was saying  _ please?  _ Damn, must be one hot date...

“I appreciate your manners, but no,” Roy spoke slowly, leaning back in his desk chair to study the child’s back. Something was up, and he wanted to know what. “Unless there is some pressing reason that you need to abandon your post early.”

“It’s pressing! Really!” Ed whined, bouncing in place on the heels of his boots. His body language was more befitting of a child begging their parent for a balloon than a soldier making a request to a commanding officer.

“Then can you tell me what it is?” Roy asked curiously, watching the child writhe.

“No!” Ed shot back instantly. His weight shifted uncomfortably from one leg to the other, gloved hands in tight fists.

Roy raised his eyebrows at that. An answer that was both brash and immediate, with absolutely no hesitation or consideration put into it. He wanted to press for information, he really, really did, but he doubted he would need to. Ed was horrible at hiding things.

“...Then it isn’t that important,” Roy spoke casually, comfortably, kicking his boots up onto the desk with his coffee mug in hand. Work could wait. This was a far more interesting development.

The guttural complaint that rose from Ed’s body was almost inhuman. He fussed, as children are want to do, the tips of his ears glowing a faint pink. Roy watched, intrigued, searching Ed’s body language for an indication as to what could’ve brought about his latest fit.

It didn’t take very long for the clues to emerge, taking the form of two small hands curling tightly against his boys’ groin. Roy was ashamed to admit his first concern was that the boy was touching himself, but he quickly corrected himself to what he believed to be the far more rational, and modest, conclusion.

“Oh, I get it…” Roy mused, lips pursing into a smirk. “You’re asking me for a potty break, aren’t you?”

Ed’s hands left the front of his pants to grip his face, pulling at his cheeks like the conversation was hurting him. The boy groaned, a gurgling sound of dissatisfaction that told Roy he was right on the money.

“Don’t  _ say it  _ like that…”

“But I am right, aren’t I?”

Ed resumed his desperate bouncing, metallic limbs squeaking and clanking underneath his clothes. It was ridiculous just how noisy the kid could be even when he kept his mouth shut.

“Hmph. Just my luck,” Roy rolled his eyes, pretending to sound exasperated by this development even while he was forcing back chuckles. “Leave it to me to pick up the one dog who hasn’t been housebroken…”

It took him a moment to appreciate that the small, tightly-strained whine that was filling the room was bubbling up from Ed’s throat and not coming from some disastrous engine failure outside. The clanking got louder as the bouncing got even more aggressive, as if Ed was hoping to simply  _ annoy  _ his commanding officer into siding with him.

“Would you  _ stop that, _ ” Roy scolded, watching the child drop back down onto the flats of his feet with another inhuman sound of dismay. “Do you think that’s how you get what you want around here?”

Ed’s first responses came in the form of more nonverbal whining and frustrated grunts, and for a moment Roy worried they had bypassed the realm of humane conversation entirely, but eventually Ed managed to summon up the sense to create sounds with actual meaning.

“You’re not giving me what I want anyway!” Ed cried, throwing his whole body into the complaint. He stomped his boot against the tile in irritation, flinging his fists downward like he was trying to attack the empty air.

“What makes you think you’ve earned that right?” Roy kept his tone stern even as his posture was relaxed. It didn’t matter if his heart wasn’t truthfully in the words as long as they sounded sincere. Ed only had his voice to go off, and to a blind eye, Roy sounded the part. “If you’re going to act like a child, I’m going to treat you like one, and if you act like an infant, you can wet yourself like one for all I care.”

This was another experiment, a testing of limits. A wondering of just how far FullMetal could be pushed before he refused to allow it anymore.

“ _ I’m not gonna w _ —” Ed stopped himself, assumedly aware that his raised voice may carry into the outer office. “I-I’m not gonna! I’m  _ not!!” _

“Then you can wait in that corner until I let you out,” Roy gave his order, now it was time to see if Ed was willing to follow.

There was another bout of unproductive thrashing before Ed settled down again, crossing his arms over his chest with a huff. Roy brought his mug back to his lips quietly, musing over the minute bouncing of the boy’s thigh.  _ Nervous _ . That kid was actually  _ nervous _ about this.

Ed’s chin lowered, his eyes on the baseboards. When he spoke, he sounded calmer, more open to the idea of a rational discussion between human beings.

“...I just wanna know how long…”

Roy gave his question a moment’s thought. This was a crossroads of positive and negative reinforcement, of choosing to punish previous actions with a withholding of information, or to reward Ed’s newest approach with a glimmer of hope. A question of carrot or stick.

Roy glanced at the clock, turning the problem over in his mind. He was already being too lenient with this child, and he knew it, but he supposed if this was a gamble on Ed’s obedience he should offer an ultimatum that was within the boy’s grasp.

“...Three minutes.”

_ “Three minutes!”  _ Ed’s voice made it sound as if Roy had just informed him he’d be stuck there for three days.

_ Should’ve chosen the stick. _

“If that doesn’t suit your tastes, we can always go for four instead.”

Ed shot back upright, ramrod straight and ready to obey. Whether he understood his choice or not, it was clear to Roy that Ed had chosen negative reinforcement as his preferred correctional method. Roy added another mental note to the growing mental pile.

To the boy’s credit, he was  _ trying _ . As graceless and ineffective as his attempts were, he was  _ trying _ to be quiet for once. There was still the minute squeaking of metal joints in the air, still visible squirming on Ed’s part, but his mouth was shut and he’d seemed to finally grasp that the obnoxious bouncing was not doing him any favors. With the way Ed was keeping his thighs locked together tightly, Roy’s first instinct was to give him another reminder of posture, but it seemed like it might be pushing it. He was such a little thing, Roy doubted his bladder could hold much. Maybe he was pushing him a little too far…

“...Two more,” Roy said, breaking the semi-silence that had hung over the room. “Can you do that for me?”

To his surprise, Ed shook his head.

“C-can’t…” Ed’s voice was weak, strained.

“... _ Really _ ?” Roy asked, slightly repulsed by the response. Apparently, Ed was even more spineless than he had given him credit for. “I think you’re being a bit dramatic.”

“N-no, I really can’t,” Ed insisted, fists pressing deeper into the softness of his groin.

“...One, then,” Roy offered with a glance at the wall clock, cursing himself for his infinite mercies. Ed let out a high-pitched whine like a kicked puppy, another sign that Roy really  _ shouldn’t  _ be babying him. “You can do  _ one minute,  _ FullMetal. It’s  _ sixty seconds.” _

Ed shook his head again, the tail of his braid slapping against pink cheeks.

“Can’t!”

“Less than fifty, now.”

“ _ Can’t _ !”

“You’re almost to forty, are you  _ really _ certain you can’t?”

Ed’s whine faded into unhappy murmurs that Roy assumed were not even words at all. Roy kept his eyes on the clock, counting slowly down to Ed’s chance at freedom. The mechanical noises that filled the air told him that Ed was squirming through every second, thighs rubbing together desperately.

“Alright.  _ Go,”  _ Roy said, watching Ed instantly perk up. “But I expect you back here  _ immediately—” _

“Yes,  _ yes _ , thank you,  _ thank you, sir—” _

Ed did not need to be told twice. He was pushing himself away from the wall even while he spoke, but even as Roy was delighting in the boy’s squirrel-like scrambling, the flurry of movement was coming to a halt.

“...I said you can  _ go _ , FullMetal.”

But Ed didn’t keep going. He did the exact opposite; standing frozen between the corner and the door. Roy sat up, suddenly concerned about where this “game” of his was about to end.

The two of them moved in parallel, as Roy rose, Ed began to sink, coming to rest on his knees with both hands jammed between his thighs.

“What’re you—”

“S- _ shut up!!” _

Roy wasn’t used to being spoken to that way. He supposed the logical response was anger, but for now, it startled him. Not away, never away, he was too well-trained to even consider the option of fleeing when something surprised him. Instead, he was on his feet.

“No! Don’t!” Ed barked, hearing Roy come towards him. “Don’t look—  _ ah!” _

The cry Ed let out was clipped and sharp, his body doubling over. Roy’s instincts told him it was pain. This child was in pain, this child was wounded, this child needed  _ help,  _ and in a moment of blind compassion, Roy reached to offer it. He didn’t even know  _ what  _ he was offering, but the part of his mind that would always be animalistic was screaming at him to make this creature’s pain  _ go away. _

His hand stopped in empty air, Ed’s body still trembling on the floor. The part of Roy’s mind that was human and rational was speaking now, and it was telling him that he knew damn well what was happening, and it wasn’t pain, and it wasn’t injury, and there was nothing he could do to help.

Roy watched silently as a murky puddle began to pool underneath his subordinate, rolling ever gently outward. He took a shaky step away from the mess, listening to the faint hissing of Edward’s bladder emptying onto the floor.

“You, ah…” Roy wasn’t certain what a person was supposed to say in this sort of situation. “...Didn’t make it, did you?”

Ed’s wide, terrified eyes lowered slowly to the puddle beneath him, as if trying to confirm Roy’s claim for himself.

“No, I…” Ed’s voice was barely above a whisper. This was officially the quietest he had ever seen this child. “...I didn’t…”

The silence in the room was oppressive. Ed shuddering on the tile with two gloved hands pressed between his thighs, and Roy left looming over him with no idea of what to do. Roy felt… bad? Definitely wasn’t a good feeling. An odd mixture of guilt and second-hand embarrassment that he thought he would’ve outgrown by now. He had nothing to be embarrassed about, he wasn’t the one wearing wet leather and sitting in a puddle of his own piss.

“...Alright. Stand up.”

Ed didn’t move. He didn’t even pull his hands away from his crotch when Roy could plainly see his gloves were soaked.

“...Come on, kid, on your feet,” Roy tried to keep his voice gentle, compassionate. He took the boy by his arm and guided him up onto his trembling legs. He looked more like a baby deer than a soldier. “There, see? Already an improvement.”

What little of Ed’s face Roy could see was scarlet red, golden eyes wide and glassy as he studied the toes of his boots.

“...I can clean it up…”

“Yes, I believe that would be the responsible thing to do,” Roy was at a loss for what he could possibly say to make this better. Was he even supposed to make this better? Maybe this was just one of those hard lessons in life that one has to come to grips with on their own, though Roy couldn’t imagine what this was teaching the boy anymore. “Why don’t you stay here, I’ll go get something to dry this up?”

Ed gave a small nod towards the floor, sniffling.

“And, uh… It’s alright, okay?” Roy extended the words as an olive branch. “This stays between us.”

He got no verbal response, but he hoped his words had softened the morning’s blows.

Roy stepped out into the outer office, pulling the door shut tight so there was no risk of anyone catching sight of what had happened, and tried to steel his expressions. Last thing he needed was anyone asking why he looked so shaken up. Roy wasn’t even sure where to start with that one.

“Ah, is the kid in there with you?” Jean asked, lifting his head from the bureaucratic toil that was strewn across his desk. It was a casual question, a simple curiosity, but it instantly felt like a minefield. “Has he been giving you trouble again?”

With five pairs of wondering eyes on him, he dragged a heavy hand down his face, his response coming out in a groan.

“More than you know.”


End file.
